Adidas Harden Volume 8 review

We believe the Adidas Harden Volume 8 is hard-ly a pass if you're looking for:

• A hooper that offers excellent foot containment in a bootie-like structure that's very easy to put on.
• Fantastic shock absorption for every landing and a bouncy midsole to push you back up right away.
• Great traction and stability to post-play confidently.

We could talk about the controversial design of the Harden Volume 8 here, but we're gonna leave that to the fashionistas. Focusing on function rather than form, we can say this shoe is not the best to play outdoors. If you're a toe-dragger, just like us, its structure will suffer quite a lot. It might work for a while, that's for sure, but if you want to play ball on outdoor courts for a while, we believe you should have a look at our streetball shoes catalogue.

The hoopers among us whose playstyle relies on quick footwork found this Adidas pair a little bit too heavy for that. If you want something affordable, the Giannis Immortality 3 might be worth checking out. If you don't mind paying a bit more, the UA Curry 11 felt really nimble when we tried it on!

Here in RunRepeat, we always cut shoes in half. Why? Well, because we need to have access to every single piece we want to assess and analyse! Some of them are hidden inside the shoe, and if you don't cut it down, there's no way you'll fully know them!

At 28.2 mm, our calliper indicated the Harden Vol 8 is almost as tall as the average in the heel. We don't want to spoil anything, but let us tell you that we really, really loved this shoe's cushioning!

The forefoot stack follows the same path, being slightly lower than average according to our calliper.

At 20.6 mm, we can't say this model will isolate you from the harshness of the court. And we can't say that it'll let you feel every little detail you step on.

But as its forefoot is quite low, we gained control over our moves. We felt really stable and close to the surface, and at the same time, its cushioning provided us with wonderful shock absorption every time we jumped!

We'll talk later on about this shoe's midsole, its foam, and how it felt when we played some games during our wear tests.

At 7.6 mm, the Harden Vol 8's drop is just average. There's not a crazy difference between the heel and the forefoot stacks (as in too much or too little), so our feet didn't have to get used to any kind of design.

Now that we have a clear view of this Adidas, as we cut in half every shoe that comes to our lab, we'll tell you a little bit more about its interiors. As you can see, its upper is only padded in some key areas, and it doesn't feature very stretchy material.

It also includes a double heel counter that provided great hold in that area (we'll talk about this later on) during our wear tests.

Nevertheless, we can't see any technologies in the midsole. Just a plastic shank at the bottom (black) that offered some support to our strides.

When we measured the midsole softness of the Vol 8, our durometer returned 15.5 HA. This is a really soft score, which just confirms what our feet felt during our playtests: this shoe's foam is like a cloud.

But not like a mushy cloud, more like a bouncy one!

Going up and down the court in this shoe felt wonderful, as our feet could enjoy the incredible shock absorption and spring of its full-length JETBOOST foam.

We felt really comfortable, and the energy provided by this Adidas' midsole helped us bounce back (no pun intended) in every move, like Euro steps for example. The best part is that, thanks to the shank this shoe has at the bottom, we felt really stable despite the softness of the material.

At 4.1 mm, the Harden Vol 8's insole is just average.

It keeps things simple and it doesn't have any specific details that might set it apart from other insoles.

Our calliper had to open wide to measure this shoe's toebox width at the widest part!

At 113.2 mm, our feet were pretty happy with all the space they had! This sounds like a dream for wide-foot hoopers, doesn't it? Well... pro tip: don't celebrate too early.

Before you start recommending this shoe to your pals with wide feet, check the measure of its toebox width at the big toe... you might change your mind.

At the incredible figure of 78.1 mm, this Adidas pair tapers like crazy, losing 7 mm of width in comparison with its predecessor!

Our standard-sized feet enjoyed the Harden Vol 8, but we can see wide-toed hoopers having a hard time with it. Additionally, the protection that it has in the toebox is not stretchy at all, so it's better if you don't expect it to give in after a couple of games!

This shoe's structure offers great containment. The EVA walls it has on the sides (check the picture below) and the bootie structure hugged our feet nicely during our wear tests playing ball.

But even though its foot containment is wonderful, its lateral stability is not as good as what a shoe with a regular firm construction might offer.

Things would be totally different if the EVA pieces participated in the lacing system, of course. Still, we felt safe in the shoe and we enjoyed its overall stability. As a tip, we would recommend lacing it all up to the top, without skipping the last eyelet.

As we had already hinted, this Adidas pair doesn't have the most rigid structure.

The EVA sides and pretty much the whole shoe bent alongside our fingers and feet. Even though this meant less lateral support, it also translated into smoother and quicker moves on the court, skipping any kind of painful or harsh break-in period (yes, LeBron 21, we're looking right at you!).

We did not find the Harden Vol 8 unstable at all. Its bootie construction, extra thick heel counter, and long shank made sure we were safe.

All in all, we enjoyed wonderful stability underfoot and enough pliability to perform fake shots from minute 1.

Its heel counter is not the stiffest one out there, but with its structure, it doesn't really need to be.

As you can see, the EVA pieces of the sides follow our fingers' orders easily. The top of the bootie construction is pretty much the same, bowing without much resistance. But when we get to the middle part of the heel, the structure becomes way more stiff.

That is exactly what holds our feet in place! The double heel counter offered excellent foot containment. And even though its exaggerated structure might not be everyone's cup of tea, its solid hold on the Achilles tendon is undeniable.

When we measured the midsole width in the forefoot, our calliper returned 114.3 mm.

This is a standard width, and even though the Harden Vol 8 might seem like a buffed-up hooper if you look at its pictures online, its fit is the complete opposite.

The midsole width in the heel is also average, at 90.3 mm.

This shoe's base is not incredibly wide, and its sole doesn't feature any flares to enhance it. Nevertheless, we didn't feel unstable in our landings. The Harden Volume 8 offers just the right surface to land steadily, no more and no less.

Our lab results confirmed the flexibility we felt during our wear tests with this Adidas pair.

At 31.5N, we needed less force than average to make it bend all the way up to 90 degrees. In our feet, this translated into smoother transitions and easier fakes and pivoting.

We were really happy about it, as it mean the Hardel Vol 8 combines a wonderful lockdown feel with a more pliable structure that wasn't rough with our feet. Even though the shoe needs to warm up a bit before it can unleash its full potential, we enjoyed our time with it from the very first minute we put it on (which, by the way, is a piece of cake!).

They might not look like it, but these two are... big boys. Yep, forget about feeling quick and nimble when you run up and down the court with them!

At 15.9 oz/451.0g, the Adidas Harden Vol 8 is lighter than its predecessor. And that's it! It felt bottom-heavy to us, and we believe it might be more suitable for centres and players who post-play a lot.

Before we move on to the next section, let us state that this pair is a whole 13% heavier than the average of its category.

We could easily summarise our experience in the ventilation department of the Harden Vol 8 with just two words: unexpectedly breathable!

Even though the light doesn't go through a single pore of this Adidas pair, we didn't feel our feet were horribly suffocating during our wear tests. To know more about its breathability levels, we grabbed our smoke machine and started the party.

Just look at that! There's a quick, constant, and thick smoke column coming from right under the toe area. We can't say this pair is an equal rival to the Curry 10. But its battle against the Book 1? An easy victory!

Its bootie construction features a textile upper with big holes. Nevertheless, the structure includes multiple layers that restrict smooth airflow.

In conclusion, we've decided to give the Harden Vol 8 a solid 4/5 on our breathability test. It's a really good score in our basketball shoes category!

Once we saw this shoe's rubber protection in the toebox, we knew our Dremel wouldn't be having fun this time.

After 12 seconds of constant drill at 5K RPM and 3.2N of force, this Adidas pair showed its wonderful skills as a defender!

The result was wonderful, and we felt pretty satisfied. We mean, you don't always get to see such a breathable and durable hooper!

Just look at that, the poor Nike Precision 6 (right) had such a hard time that we couldn't give it any more than a 1/5 on our toebox durability test. On the other hand, the Adidas Harden Volume 8 has earned a solid and well-deserved 4/5 on this same test!

Our Dremel's second battle was about to start, and right after the first second, we already knew who'd be the winner!

The tool didn't make a fuss, and it didn't really mess up the material of the heel.

So we decided to give it a fantastic 4/5 on our heel padding durability test. We can't say this Adidas model actually has padding in that area, as it features a bootie construction. Nevertheless, we didn't change our Dremel's adjustments and parameters, which means the Harden Vol 8 passed the test successfully, just like any other shoe.

If you want to see what failing our heel padding durability test looks like, check the Reebok Answer DMX (right) and it's messed up material!

Our durometer returned 75.9 HC when we measured the Harden Vol 8's outsole hardness.

This result is lower than average, and even though it still indicates this shoe offers a healthy mix of durability and traction... it might lean towards the latter.

The outsole of this shoe is so nice that it deserves its own part. And it will get it, you just need to go down to the Traction section in this review.

But for now, we're going to check its durability using our Dremel one last time.

The test lasted 22 seconds, and the tool was at 10K RPM and with 3.2N of force. Once we finished, we measured the dent left with our tread gauge, which returned 1.0 mm.

A nice result once again! We might be right in the durable + grippy hypothesis. Stay tuned to find that out!

At 3.0 mm, this shoe's outsole is pretty thin. Actually, the average is a solid 27% thicker, which is a lot.

This is one of the reasons why we believe the Vol 8 is not the best shoe to play streetball. It doesn't have the strongest rubber on its outsole, and the layer of material is not thick enough to withstand the constant abrasion of harsh courts.

The traction of this Adidas pair is just AWESOME.

As you can see, this shoe features multiple patterns depending on the area. From the heel down, we first have the three stripes typical of the brand (white); then, a black area that surrounds the base with a spiky herringbone pattern. In the middle, we've got an H pattern blue piece with a white hole (which might act as a suction pad); and two pivot points, one on the ball of the foot and another one closer to the big toe area. At the tip of the shoe, there's a white layer with, once again, the spiky herringbone pattern.

This wonderful mix provided us with crazy good traction in pretty much every court, outdoor and indoor. Even though dusty surfaces were a little bit of a challenge, once we wiped the outsole a couple of times and let it break-in a bit, we didn't have any complaints whatsoever.

The Harden Vol 8 offers superb grip in any direction, which boosted our confidence and made us go for more explosive cuts in general and quicker back-door cuts (one of our favourite moves).

This newer model doesn't include any reflective elements in its design. We checked it in our lab!

This shoe doesn't really have a tongue! Its bootie construction surrounds the foot, hugging it tightly from every angle. So the upper is just one piece!

Still, we put our calliper in the area that embraces the instep and it returned 6.1 mm. Even though this Adidas pair keeps it low-key, we found the material thick enough to protect our foot from the laces comfortably.

By the way, if you look right next to the tongue, you'll see the inner eyelets of the shoe. This levels up even more the overall containment, as it pulls the structure from the inside all the way to the outside!

The upper of this shoe hugged our feet comfortably. It works as a one-piece structure that offers a close fit to every hooper.

So we can't talk about a gusseted or non-gusseted tongue here, as the Harden Vol 8 features a sock-like design.

The EVA parts that surround and protect it are held together by the white rubberized piece at the front. That last part is pretty resistant, yet we believe the EVA sides don't offer as much protection as we'd like to play streetball. Especially if you're a toe-dragger like us!

We believe the finger-loop was a must in the Harden Vol 8, as it makes its bootie construction way easier to put on!

As you can see, the piece is big enough for one or two fingers, which is something that we really appreciated.

The Harden Vol 8 features a standard insole, but what we love the most is that it's removable!

Even though its style is as clean as a summer morning, you might want something more supportive or to use your own orthotics.